The systems and methods of the invention relate to operation of a system, and in particular a robot system, in a retail environment.
In a retail environment such as a store, mall, shop, firm or other place of business, for example, there is a wide variety of customers and other persons. These persons often require personal attention in order to achieve what they hope to accomplish in the retail environment. Such desired accomplishments might include purchasing an item or simply investigating a product they are potentially interested in purchasing, for example. Further, the persons who work in the retail environment are often busy with a wide variety of tasks such as maintenance of the retail environment, stocking shelves or checking out customers. Additional persons to assist may not be brought in due to cost considerations. As a result, customers or other persons in the store do not receive the attention they need and desire.
As a result, a customer may walk into a store looking for a particular product. The customer may have problems finding the particular product. In a conventional retail setting, if the customer cannot find a worker, then the customer may be left with the feeling of having no recourse. As a result, the customer may well exit that particular retail environment looking for a store that might better fulfill their needs. Accordingly, a need exists to address these problems, as well as others, that exist in retail environments.
The system and method of the present invention provides a robot system and a variety of processes that may be performed by the robot system in a retail environment. The robot system, in accordance with one embodiment, includes a processor portion, a memory portion, an interaction portion and a transport portion. The processor portion of the robot system processes a wide variety of data in operation of the robot system based on a variety of inputs from the retail environment and information in the memory stores. The memory portion stores a variety of data including retail data relating to retail activity, as well as information relating to customer interaction with the robot system. The processor portion both stores data in the memory portion and retrieves data from the memory portion in operation.
In accordance with one embodiment of the method and system of the invention, the interaction portion interfaces with a customer in various ways. The interaction portion receives input from a customer and generates output to that customer, which is responsive to the observed input. The output may be based on retail data relating to retail activity. Operation of the interaction portion is controlled by the processor portion. The robot system further may optionally include a transport portion, which provides capabilities to transport the robot system to various locations in the retail environment. A variety of processes may be performed by the robot system related to the particular retail environment and the interaction of the robot system with customers.